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AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED 



IN THE CITY OF GALVESTON 



ON THE 22d OF FEBRUARY, 1848, 



THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE 



BIRTH DAY OF WASHINGTON, 



AND OF THE 



BATTLE OF BUEIA VISTA. 



BIT ASHBEIi SniITH. 



Wetos Office; ®falbc»ton, 
W. RICHARDSON, Publisher. 



AN ADDRESS 



UELIVEEEl) 



IN THE CITY OF GALVESTON 



ON THE 22d OF FEBRUARY, 1848, 



THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE 



BIRTH DAY OF ¥ASHINGTOK 



AND OF THE 



BATTLE OF BUEIA VISTA. 



BT ASHBEIa SMITH. 



IV^ctDS ©ffice ; fflfalbcston, 
W. RICHARDSON, Publishek. 



t,¥07 



\ 

Published in conformity with the unanimous vote of the citizens of Galveston, in 

public meeting, assembled in the Methodist Church, on the 22nd of February, 

1848 ; Robert Howard, Esq., Chairman. 

V-^.^v of Te>?:&s 



ADDRESS. 



*^f-»- 



At the Ordnance Depot in Galveston, on the 22d of February, 1848, there was a dis- 
charge of cannon at intervals of fifteen minutes, under the orders of the Superintendent, 
in commemoration of the day. 



Ladies and Gentlemen — Fellow Citizens : 

Why booms that gun over our peaceful city ] It is the 22d of 
February — a day dear to every American : it is the birthday of the 
Father of his Country — of him who was "first in war, first in peace, 
first in the hearts of his countrymen." It has ever been one of the 
great festal days of the repubhc ; it has now a new claim to the grateful 
remembrance and celebration of the patriot. 

In Mexico, some three hundred miles beyond the Rio Grande, there 
is an irregular and broken plain, partially encompassed by mountains, 
forming the hacienda of Buena Vista ; a name expressive of the pictu- 
resque and commanding beauty which greets the eye of the beholder. 
On the 22d of February, 1847, as the sun rose over this beautiful plain, 
its lays gilded the arms and encampment of five thousand soldiers. The 
stars and stripes that waved over them told whence they came. At 
length, shouts loud, eager and joyous, rend the air. Is it to welcome 
friends 1 No. Over the distant hills are descried numerous bodies of 
armed men, they too hurrying to the same spot with the eagerness of 
hate. An army of twenty thousand Mexican soldiers, commanded by 
General Santa Anna, is soon arrayed upon the same plain. Buena 
Vista becomes a battle field. The Mexicans had confidence in their 
commander-in-chief. General Santa Anna then first appeared on the 
field in the present war ; the prestige of his military renown had not 
yet been destroyed. They had confidence also in the overpowering 
superiority of their numbers — twenty thousand against less than five 
thousand. On the other hand the Americans had a stern reliance in 
their own valor and in their veteran commander, General Zachary 
Taylor, whose generalship had been proved on many a triumphant 
battle field. In fierce but partial conflicts, the afternoon of the day is 



consumed, till the setting in of niglit separated the combatants to sleep 
on their arms. The encounters of the 22d were but a playful prelude to 
the furious, general, prolonged and decisive onslaught, with which the 
hostile armies rushed against each other on the morning of the 23d. 
Throughout the day the battle raged, and frightful was the carnage. 
When the sun went down that evening on Buena Vista, his setting rays 
lingered over many hundreds of dying and dead. The squadrons of 
Santa Anna, so full of confidence in the morning, had been broken and 
repulsed ; under cover of the night they fled for safety. We turn again 
to Buena Vista ; there the wind fluttered over the broad folds of the 
stars and stripes as if it loved them ; victory again had perched on the 
banners of the soldiers of Palo Alto, the Resaca de la Palma and 
Monterey. At Buena Vista was armihilated the military power of 
Mexico in the north-eastern provinces of that country. 

We have assembled to commemorate and do honor to this great and 
o-lorious victory on this its anniversary. Here it would be most grateful 
to sound the praises of the hving who shared in the fight of Buena Vista, 
and to render in unstinted measure the merited homage to the dead who 
there gave their lives for their country. They spilt their blood on 
that field, their bones are there entombed ; but their true sepulchre is in 
the undying remembrance and gratitude, in the hearts of their country- 
men for all time to come. Here it would be most appropriate to recite 
the chivalrous deeds of our army, to relate instances of individual and 
self-sacrificing valor, to honor the rank and file who did the fighting. 
But, however grateful and appropriate such themes would be, I have 
chosen to regard our subject at this time under other points of view, to 
consider and discuss some practical matters suggested by the occasion 
which now brings us together. 

With the loud and exulting hurrahs that rose to heaven in accord 
throughout our broad republic, on receiving intelligence of the battle of 
Buena Vista, there also ascended to God the tears of the mother bereft of 
her son, the wail of the widowed wife, and the cry of the orphan. 
The agony of the soldier expiring on the field of battle, his limbs palpita- 
ting with pain as life ebbs, is pleasure when compared with the woe and 
wretchedness which his death brings to his own fireside. War, in its 
most favorable results, is fraught with dire calamities. To the victorious 
nation it costs large expenditure of treasure, taxing the labor of the 
people ; the blood of its citizens is spilt on the battle field ; families are 
reduced to wretchedness and want. To the conquered nation, these 
evils are all aggravated in an enormous degree, and others are super- 



added : it may be despoiled of its territories ; its public spirit may be 
broken; and the waste of the districts which are the tlieatre of military 
operations is accompanied with a worse moral waste, the demoralization 
of their inhabitants. It is true that a wise Providence, always bringing 
good out of evil, so conducts human affairs that great and permanent 
blessings often result from war. Still war is a mighty evil, and a vast 
responsibility rests on the nation which is truly the author of it. 

Why then were hostile armies arrayed against each other at Buena 
Vista 1 Why were the thousands of either army so eager, so fierce and 
panting to commence the work of destruction, to set at play the engines 
of death 1 For what cause have the United States, at vast expense, 
transported armies hundreds, and even thousands, of miles from their 
homes 1 For what reason have Mexico and the United States ap- 
pealed to the arbitrament of arms ? Who were the aggressors ] 
Which people was the author of this war? If national sins are 
visited upon the nation which commits them, as is unquestionably true, 
then these become most solemn questions. If a well-merited character 
for justice is of value to a nation, and who can deny it ] a righteous 
decision of these questions, is full of momentous interest for the American 
people. And these considerations are rendered more serious, and im- 
peratively claim attention, from the grave fact that it is boldly asserted 
in high places in this republic, in the halls of Congress, whose members 
are invested with high trust by their fellow citizens, that the American 
government, that is, the American people, are the aggressors in the con- 
test with Mexico ; that we are the authors of this war ; that this war 
was unnecessarily, unconstitutionally and unjustly commenced ; that it 
sprung from an arbitrary exercise of power in the American President, 
and a lust of plunder and a desire to despoil Mexico of her territory, in 
the American people. The eminent position of the men who have 
uttered these opinions has given them credence; they may pass into 
the domain of history. If these charges be true, then, indeed, is the 
hitherto fair escutcheon of this Union soiled ; disgrace and reproach 
will be our reward among other nations, and we may have good cause 
to dread the retributive vengeance of a just God upon us for national 
sins : if these charges be true, then, indeed, will some national purifica- 
tion, some lustration of the people, be of imperative need. But if these 
charges be not true, then let the croaker and disappointed politician, 
the bewrayers of their country, hold silence, and the misguided unlearn 
their error. And it has appeared to me especially proper on this, the 
anniversary of one of the glorious victories of the Mexican war, on this, 



the birthday of the Father of his country, the purest and noblest man 
that ever Hved in the tide of times, to examine these charges, and if they 
be wholly without foundation and utterly false, as in my soul I believe 
they are, then to assert the unsullied honor of our country, and vindicate 
truth in relation to this great matter. And we, the citizens of Texas, 
and more especially, the old Texians, have a particular interest herein ; 
for Texas was the cause of the war; yes, fellow citizens, the annexa- 
tion of Texas to the American Union was the avowed motive whereupon 
Mexico commenced hostilities. I shall afterwards consider some of the 
consequences likely to flow from the invasion of Mexico, to the Mexicans 
and to our own country. 

As the rightful ownership of Texas is involved in the question, I beg 
permission to recapitulate a few facts in the history of Texas in order to 
vindicate the accuracy of American History, and to place the citizens of 
the Old Republic of Texas in a just light before the world. If the facts 
be dry, they will be briefly stated. 

It is known to you all, fellow citizens, that the United States have 
frequently asserted a claim to the territory which now forms the State of 
Texas. Let us examine the facts. The early Spanish navigators first 
discovered the coast of Texas and laid claim to the country. Previously 
to 1595 they discovered the Rio Grande, and established settlements on 
both sides of that river. In 1684 the intrepid French navigator, La Salle, 
being in search of the mouth of the Mississippi, was carried by unknown 
currents out of his course and landed on Matagorda Bay. He claimed 
the country in the name of his master, Louis XIY. Immediately this 
was known, the Viceroy of Mexico sent an armed force against the 
colony left by La Salle, broke up the establishment and put the men to 
death. This is Ihe lohole of the French title to tJie country now forming the 
State of Texas, under which the United States are cdleged once to have held 
it. But the Government of Spain not satisfied to scour the country of 
French intruders as they were termed, forthwith took active steps to es- 
tablish therein a military occupation. Accordingly in 1698 the Spanish 
Presidio of San Antonio de Bexar was built; in 1716 that of Espiritu 
Santo subsequently called Goliad ; in 1718 on the Eastern frontier the 
Presidio of San Miguel de los Adeas, and in 1732 the town cf Nacog- 
doches. In 1742 the French Post of Natchitoches being injured by 
an inundation of the Red River, its Commandant asked and obtained 
permission of Sandoval, Commandant of the neighboring Presidio of 
Adeas, to move some 200 yards from the river on to Spanish territory. 
For granting this permission, Sandoval was instantly recalled by the 



Viceroy of Mexico, tried by court martial and punished with the extreme 
rigor of the law. Spain thus held complete possession of Texas until 
1763, when by the Family Compact as it was called, it likewise became 
possessor of Louisiana by cession from France. In 1800, by the treaty of 
San Ildefonso, Louisiana was retroceded to France, with the limits of 
1762. In 1803 Louisiana was purchased from France by the United 
States. The American government appealed to that of France, from 
which we had purchased Louisiana, to sustain the American claim to the 
Rio Grande. So far from sustaining our claim, the French government 
affirmed the title of Spain to the country beyond the Sabine. Things 
remained in this position, when came the treaty of 1819. Without en- 
tering into more minute details, I may briefly state, after a careful examin- 
ation of facts, that the United States never had even a color of title by 
virtue of the Louisiana purchase of 1803. Moreover by solemn treaty 
in 1819 just alluded to, they forever renounced all claim to any territory 
lying South and West of the line now forming the boundary of Texas 
on the North and North East ; to wit, to any and all portion of the late 
Republic or present State of Texas. It is therefore worse than idle to 
speak of annexation, in the words of the late American Chief Magis- 
trate, as " reclaiming a territory formerly constituting a portion of the 
domain of the United States," or to term it re-annexation, with the im- 
plied opinion that by annexation the people of Texas only restored to 
the American Union what was once rightfully a part of it ; that we were 
in fact merely tenants in trust for the United States, holding for a time 
for their convenience. No, Fellow Citizens, away with the terra re-an- 
nexation and all notions therein implied. Mexico forfeited all rightful 
authority over Texas by her oppression and tyranny, by frequent viola- 
tion of the rights of person and property guaranteed by solemn covenant 
with the iirst settlers, by all those national crimes wbich rendered the 
Texas revolution unavoidable and rigliteous. Our right to Texas icas won 
by the valor and patriotism of her sons ; our title ivas perfected at San Jacinto. 
Our muniments are our battlefields, sealed by the blood of the heroes 
slaughtered in the Alamo and the victims of the inhuman butchery at Go- 
liad. The bones of Bowie, Travis, Crockett and Fannin, and their com- 
rades, buried in the earth where they fell, have forever consecrated the 
soil to liberty. The Great Powers of the World, by solemn treaty, ac- 
knowledged our independence and indisputable ownership of the Texian 
soil ; and Mexico herself acknowledged it by deliberate treaty authorized 
by her Congress and negotiated under President Jones, the last Chief Ma- 
gistrate of the Texas Republic ; I allude of course to the treaty of March, 



8 

signed by Cuevas and Smith. IVe have held Texas by the same title as 
our fathers and felloio citizens of the old United States have held the coun- 
try wrested by them from Great Britain. And we had as perfect a right, the 
same right, to form a union with the other States of the Confederacy, as the 
other States had to do so with Texas. 

Texas belonged to its citizens by the acknovvledgnnent of Mexico, as 
well as of Foreign Powers ; and the only unsettled matter then subsis- 
ting, was the establishment of the boundary line between the two 
countries. 

By annexation the United States assumed the position and relations of 
Texas with Mexico ; and the settlement of the question of boundary 
then devolved on the American Government, as well in conformity with 
international law as by the express terms of annexation. Individuals 
in our country who denounce the Mexican war, have recklessly asserted 
that Texas could set up no valid claim to any country lying West of the 
Nueces, and that the occupation therefore by the American army of the 
district lying between this river and the Rio Grande, was a violation of 
Mexican territory, and indeed the cause and origin of the war. What 
are the /ac/s bearing on, and in evidence in this matter 1 It is important 
here to remember the true grounds of our right to Texas as just stated, 
and that our boundaries are not regulated nor circumscribed by any limits 
or lines of provinces formerly marked out by the central government at 
Mexico; besides^ Fellov/ Citizens, this whole matter of a "disputed ter- 
ritory between the Nueces and Rio Grande," is a pure figment of the 
wool gathering fancies of disaflected politicians, opposed to their own 
government. Mexico never made any such allegation ; Mexico never 
accepted an issue based on this imaginary "disputed territory," and ten- 
dered to her by American politicians in moments of unpatriotic forgetful- 
ness. No, Mexico from the outset declared annexation to be for her, cause 
of war, and she has been consistent up to the present time. Though not 
immediately bearing on the present argument, I beg to cite a few facts in 
relation to our claim to the Rio Grande. A specific article in the capitu- 
lation of Gen. Cos to Gen. Burleson, was the willidrawal of Mexican 
troops beyond the Rio Grande. A specific condition in the "solemn 
compact" entered into by General Santa Anna after the battle of San Ja- 
cinto, was that the armies of Mexico should evacuate Texas and retire 
beyond the Rio. Grancje. And General Filisola, then commanding in 
chief the armies of Mexico in Texas, ratified this compact, and obeyed 
the order to this eflfect, of General Santa Anna. It has been alleged that 
Santa Anna was under duress, and that the obligation was not, there- 



fore, binding. Duress can be pleaded when tlie power it, gives is used to 
exloit or impose unjust lerms. It is matter of histor}', lliut the compact- 
was voluntary on behalf of Santa Anna ; its advantages were mutual ; 
its stipulations were faithfully performed by us of Texas ; can Santa An- 
na and Mexico sa}^ as much 1 And c[uite recently, Santa Anna, in his 
report of the great battle, whose anniversary we are now celebrating, 
speaks of the Rio Bravo as practically the boundary between tlie Ameri- 
can and Mexican territories. There has not been for long years a Mex- 
ican custom-house collector or garrison stationed in the district in ques- 
tion. They were on the other side of the Rio Grande. The legislation 
of Texas, always impliedly, and often specifically, has embraced this re- 
gion. Our rangers scoured it to drive out Mexicans. Our town of Cor- 
pus Christi is situated beyond the Nueces. In all maps published in 
foreign countries, and in all histories of Texas written by foreigners since 
our independence, (I refer to Mr. Arrowsmith's maps, of London, and to 
Mr. Kennedy's history, both publislied seven or eight years ago,) the Rio 
Grande has been represented as our boundar}-. Such is the opinion of 
our claim entertained by intelligent foreigners, not prejudiced in our favor. 
So much for our claim to the Rio Grande. I might pursue it further in 
detail, but the argument does not after all turn upon the intrinsic validity 
of our claim. The Nueces district was unoccupied, or only partially 
occupied territory. The American Government, believing us the 
rightful owners of the soil, nevertheless, proposed to entertain the ques- 
tion with Mexico, and to settle all matters in dispute by friendly negoti- 
ation. Mexico had declared that she would regard annexation to be 
cause of war, and on this measure being accomplished, had recalled her 
minister from Washington in pursuance of her threat. Notwithstanding 
this and other acts of discourtesy, the American government persisted in 
its purpose of arranging all matters of difl^erence by amicable negotiation, 
if possible, and sent accordingly to Mexico, a ministei plenipotentiary, 
the highest foreign agent known to the practice of our country, fully em- 
powered to settle all differences. To send a minister clothed with the 
amplest powers to the court of an unfriendly nation, is always deemed 
an act of gracious courtesy. Mexico rejected periinaciously our friendly 
overtures. But one course then remained, which was to take possession 
of the imoccupied territory ; it is the course that has been ever pursued 
in all ages and among all nations ; it is, moreover, the course dictated 
by common sense, and has been objected to only by some American 
politicians, so blinded by party as to denounce their own government, 
although it has right, justice and usage on its side. Did time permit, 1 

B 



10 

could cile numerous pertinent cases from the history of other nations. 
The American President has been reproached for having ordered our 
army to the Mexican frontier at that time, as it was offensive to the 
Mexicans. Most sensitive gentlemen for the feelings of the Mexicans! 
Why were not the Mexicans more considerate toward us? It was our 
frontier as much as it was theirs. Yet on our frontier they assembled 
an aririy of six thousand men ; nay, more, marched these six thousand 
men over into the unoccupied territory, into our territory, and attacked 
our army which they found tliere. This was the battle of Palo Alto, 
the first, decisive, umnistakeable act in tlie drama of the war. Our 
territory was invaded, on our soil the first blow was given, on our soil 
the first blood of our fellow citizens was shed. Had Mexico been really 
desirous of preserving peace, what easier than to have done so by re- 
maining on their side of the Rio Grande] Is there one man in this 
jepublic who imagines the American army would have been ordered 
across tire Rio Grande to commence hostilities ] Not one. But the 
acts of Mexico were in conformity with her previous threat. 

Let us suppose for a moment that President Polk, heedless of the re- 
monstrances of Mexico, had neglected to a:rsenible the army under 
General Taylor on our weslern frontier] What would have opposed the 
army of Arista] \\'\vM, would have been the fate of the western towns 
of Texas ] "The thing that hath been is that which shall be, and that 
which is done is that which shall be done." We may read it in the 
history of the Mexicans, from the broiling of Guatimozin, down to the 
wholesale butcheries of the Alamo and Goliad, and the decimation of the 
prisoners of Mier. Yes, but for the presence of our army, the ruins of 
San Antonio and Corpus Christi, of Goliad and Victoria, yes the plain of 
Goliad would have again been the scene of bloody tragedy, and execrated 
as a place of skulls ; yes, the ruins of these and other towns of Western 
Texas, had they been left unprotected against the army of Arista, would 
have been black monuments of infamy, and the wailing and shrieks of 
orphans and widows would have been remembered as curses on the 
head of an Executive, who could have been so stupid or faithless. Most 
devoutly may v/e thank God that, our Chief Magistrate followed other 
and wiser counsels than those of the opponents of the Mexican war. 

1 am far from charging the Mexican government with the stolid igno- 
rance of not knowing the consequence of their rejection of friendly over- 
tures as offered by Mr. Slidell. They knew it must needs bring on a war ; 
they intended it should do so ; but they wanted time to prepare for com- 
mencing hostilities, they wanted to blind us, and their suggestion of 



11 

a special commissioner in place of Mr. Slidell, had no other oliject, and 
could have no other result. The humble part I had in the affairs of 
tlie Republic of Texas, abroad and at houie, and some intercourse 
with intelligent Mexicans, enable me lo slate that the angry feelings 
elicited in England and the United States, in reference (o the Oregon 
controversy, and the high grounds taken by the two governments, had 
convinced the Mexicans that war between the United Slates and England 
was inevitable. And this conviction rendered the Mexican peoi'ile not 
averse lo plunging into war with us, in anticipation of the powerful co- 
operation of Great Britain. The demand for a special commissioner in 
place of Mr. Slidell was a pretext for delay, in the expectation that we 
should in the mean time become embroiled with that great European 
power. But, she rushed into the war ; she must abide its consequences ; 
she sowed the wind ; she has reaped the whirlwind, and the end is not 
yet. There is an old opinion that drinking human blood drives one mad ; 
there is a metaphorical if not a literal truth enjbodied in the opinion. 
The blood which Mexico drank at the Alamo, Goliad and Mier, seems to 
have maddened that whole people. 

The assembling of American troops in the unoccupied territory, has 
seemed to some individuals (o have brought on hostilities. It is a short- 
sighted error. 1 have intimated its necessity for protecting our frontier 
towns. Besides, no nation ever suffered loss or damage by showing a 
prompt disposition to maintain its honor; no people ever avoided a war 
by exhibiting themselves unprepared to meet il. It has been alleged 
that all the United States could have righteously done, and what we 
ought now to do, is to establish garrisons along our frontier, and to act 
purely on the defensive. I will not be detained to point out objections lo 
such policy : — its folly and madness appear when we reflect that it would 
have left Mexico open to the introduction of munitions of war, and of 
European officers to drill and discipline their men and lead them in battle. 
And though the great results of I he war would not have been materially 
changed, yet the prompt and decisive course of President Polk was the 
soundest policy dictated both by humanity and economy. 

I have thus briefly vindicated our right to the soil of Texas, the justice 
of our claim to the Rio Grande, and the righteousness of the Mexican 
war. But our contemplation of this subject would be most incomplete if 
it stopped here. The Mexican war is a part of the mission, of the desti- 
ny allotted to the Anglo Saxon race on this contitient. It is our destiny, 
our mission to civilize, to Americanize this conlinent. No nation once 
degenerate has ever been regeneiated but by foreign conquest ; and such 



12 

is (he predesliiied fate of degenerate Mexico. Tlie sword is the great 
civilizer, it clears tlie way for commerce, education, rehgion, and all the 
harmonizing influences of moraUty and humanity. 

The present war is the commencement of the end to the institutions of 
Mexico, such as tliey were derived from Spain. The revolution whereby 
the political dependence of Mexico upon old Spain was thrown otf, 
wrought no change in the social, and but little even in the political in- 
stitutions of the country. New influences will be hereafter brought to 
bear on that people. The two races, the American distinctively so cal- 
led, and the Spanish American or Mexican, are now brought by the war 
into inseparable contact. No treaties can henceforth dissever them ; and 
the inferior must give way before the superior race. Had Mexico listened 
to the dictates of prudence and been willing to settle by friendly negotia- 
tions the boundary between the two countries, the grassy v/ilderness ex- 
lendino- from the Nueces to the Rio Grande, might, for an indefinite 
period, for fifty years perhaps to come, have formed a practical barrier be- 
tween the two people. In the mean time, under more settled govern- 
ment than Mexico has hitherto enjoyed, the industry of (hat country 
m'Mii have been developed, better institutions been perhaps established, 
and in time consolidated so as to enable the nation to resist the rude 
shocks which must needs have come sooner or later from their Northern 
neighbors. I speak not of the shock of warlike hostilites, 1 mean the 
shock from the energy, industry and talents of the American population 
in peace, when the extension of our race shall bring the two people into 
close contact. And the war in wiiich we are now engaged is com- 
paratively a small matter, except as hastening and preluding to the rival- 
ship of peace. After the war, when the 40.000 soldiers now in Mexico 
shall be withdrawn, their places will be soon more than supplied by a still 
greater number of merchatits, mechanics, physicians, lawyers, preachers, 
schoolmasters and printers. In the towns of the valley of the Rio Grande, 
American stores are already established ; the Mexicans themselves re- 
sort to these s(ores because (hey can there buy cheaper than of their own 
merchants; as for the American, we know him, he will never relin- 
quish the right of trading, he would go to war again. And when the 
industry of the country districts of Mexico shall revive, on the restoration 
of peace, American commerce will assume an immense developement, 
and American institutions will march hand in hand with our commerce 
and our people. 

In Mexico to-day, the poor peon who is so unfortunate as to fall in debt, 
becomes the virtual slave for life of his creditors ; but one sect or form of 



13 

religious belief is peiuiitled by law ; the agricultural classes are palsied 
by a despotism the most intolerable and oppressive with which any coun- 
try was ever cursed, a despotism exercised by military officers of all grades, 
from non-commissioned corporals up to generals. It is mainly this all 
pervading military despotism derived from the early conquest of the 
countT}', which has made industry hopeless and deadened the energy of 
that people. Formerly the vigor of the Viceroy's government allevia- 
ted the local military tyranny ; this check is long since gone. The re- 
gular normal condition of Mexico for long years has been revolution and 
intestine war. Wherever a jNIexican army traverses a district, its track is 
desolation ; this might be borne, because of its comparative infrequency ; 
but no industry can live, no enterprise can thrive, where a petty corporal 
presses a farmer's mules or oxen on their way to market without redress 
or compensation. The country is the plunder of its own government. 

A change must take place. The enlightened legislation of Eng- 
land and the United States in relation to debt, must supersede the 
servitude of the poor peon ; the American, instead of being restricted 
to the ceremonies of one form of religion, will worship God accord- 
ing to the dictates of his own conscience. Wherever the American 
shall go, he will carry along with him freedom of opinion, security 
for person and property. He will also bear with him the habeas 
corpus and trial by jury, as shields and safeguards of his rights. 
Palo Alto and Buena Vista, Cerro Gordo and Churubusco, and the 
other battle fields of our armies, will be taUsmansic watchwords of 
freedom aud security. The Mexicans too, will participate in those 
blessings equally with Ainericans. I know how slow and difficult 
is the substituting of new institutions ; I know, too, the obstinacy of 
the Mexican race ; but the establishment of law where violence 
ruled before, will be found easier than would be our task, had more 
settled institutions to be rooted out. 

The adage, "whom God would destroy, he first deprives of rea- 
son," has been applied to Mexico, in view of their plunging into war 
with a nation so much more powerful than themselves. The adage 
seems only applicable to the military, revolutionary despotism seated 
in the city of Mexico, oppressing but not protecting her citizens. 
To the citizens themselves, the present war is fraught, in its great, 
ultimate, permanent consequences, with almost unmingled good. 
The first steps in Americanizing the broad valley of the Rio Grande 
to the Sierra Madre, and of the districts extending from Vera Cruz 
to the Capital, have already been solidly taken ; nor will there be 



u 

stay or hindrance until our institutions shall have extended to the 
Pacific Ocean on the west and the Isthmus of Darien on the south. 
Their progress is that of good order and good government, shower- 
ing blessings on the people who live under them. War was, per- 
haps, a necessary prelude to their extension ; it certainly has greatly 
precipitated events — events whicTi wSll give Mexico, under Anglo- 
Saxon influences, that station among the nations of the earth, which 
its natural advantages seem to destine it shall occupy. 

I have dwelt so long on previous topics, that I must very briefly 
despatch the consideration of the results of the Mexican war to the 
United States. We have to deplore the loss of gallant soldiers. 
It seems an established fact, painful though it may be, that the tree 
of liberty must, in its planting, be ever watered with blood ; this 
seems still to be the price man must pay for God's choicest earthly 
blessing. The treasure already expended and hereafter to be ex- 
pended, we regret infinitely less ; the energy of the American people 
will soon replace it. Most of the foreign commerce of Mexico has 
been with Great Britain ; the wealth of its mines has gone to enrich 
the merchants of the British Isles. The natural channel for all the 
north-eastern provinces, Tamaulipas, Chihuahua, Sonora, Durango, 
etc., is through the state of Texas. There is no other easily practi- 
cable route. When our bank of the Rio Grande shall be settled by 
Americans, as it will shortly be, even if our boundary be not estab- 
lished beyond that river, the foreign commerce of all Northern 
Mexico will pass out of the hands of British merchants into those of 
our own countrymen. Who can estimate the value of this trade in 
the precious metals, in wool, silk, etc., etc., when to the distractions 
and bad government which have long palsied Mexican industry, 
there shall succeed the security of well administered laws, and fa- 
cilities for obtaining foreign articles of utility and luxury, and free 
play be given to our people to carry on this commerce ? 

By the war Mexico has decided incidentally to whom the Califor- 
nias shall belong. Upper California is, at this time, the most eligible 
country in the world for colonization or settlement. The harbor of 
San Francisco, in the absence of other good ports from the straits of 
Fuca to the Isthmus, confers on this I'egion very great commercial 
advantages. Standing on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, and be- 
holding China, the Indies, and the European settlements on the great 
islands of the Indian Seas, it is scarcely possible to overrate the 
value of this oriental commerce at no distant period. Much of it 



15 

must reach the Atlantic through the harbors of Puget Sound, and 
thence along the route of the Hudson's Bay Company eastward, or 
by San Francisco and oiher southern harbors, and thence to the 
Gulf of Mexico. The advantages greatly preponderate in favor of 
the latter thoroughfare, when the country shall be populated. France 
and England have not been insensible to the value of the Californias ; 
both powers have coveted their possession. The timid policy of 
France stood in the way of her desires. The Mexican population 
of the Californias is so small, and the territory so remote, that they 
are an appendage to, rather than an integral part of, Mexico. That 
they must soon be dissevered, has been long evident, and, until re- 
cently, the problem was, Shall they belong to the English for colo- 
nization, or to the Americans for settlement and beneficial occupan- 
cy? Shall England,, by the possession of the Californias, hem in our 
Pacific territory on the north and on the south, and control the two 
great thoroughfares of the overland trade, adding to the enormous 
wealth of that mighty empire ; or shall the Californias belong to us, 
and henceforth swarm with millions of republican freemen, adding to 
our strength and oicr resources. The war has decided this question, 
and rightly. 

It would not be inappropriate to regard the probable influences of 
this war on our relations with European powers, showing as it does 
to the strong-handed monarchies of the Old World, that the republi- 
can institutions of the New are competent to the vigorous prosecution 
of distant war. But I avoid speculation, to deal w^ith facts. 

The grand, the important consequences of the Mexican war, the 
consequences compared with which all others are insignificant and 
nothing worth, are the fruits of those institutions whose seeds were 
first planted on this continent at Jamestown in Virginia, and by the 
pilgrim fathers on the rock of Plymouth. Bunker's Hill, Saratoga, 
the Cowpens, King's Mountain, Yorktown ; Lundy's Lane, Tippe- 
canoe, New Orleans ; Velasco, San Antonio, San Jacinto ;: Palo Alto, 
IMonterey, Biiena Vista, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, Mo- 
lina del Rey, Chapultepec, the City of Mexico — those great battle- 
fields enchained together in one cause, serve to mark the progress of 
liberty, of civilization, and of human happiness. The carnage which 
ye have witnessed was not in vain ; the Mexican war, with its glo- 
rious battles, has not been unnecessary and avoidable ; no, it is an 
essential predestined part of the triumphal march of free institutions. 
Westward the star of empire takes its way. And shall that star be 



16 

now arrested in its course ? No, a thousand times no. bursts fi'Dm 
the soul of ev'ery true American. That star is the harbinger of 
American institutions, of republican government, of freedom. — 
Some twenty months ago, I beheld the broad banner of the Union: 
waving over the plaza of Matamoras ; that banner had crossed' the 
Rio Grande. As it streamed vigorously in the fresh breezes, it 
seemed to dance with joy, as if conscious of its power, and of the 
noble principles inscribed on its ample folds. I asked myself if that 
banner should now, for the first time since 1776, take a retrograde 
movement. That flag is now planted in the city of Mexico ; iXs stars 
and stripes now float over the palaces of the Montezumas. And 
shall it return without accomplishing its mission ? Have all the 
blood and carnage, through which it has been borne, been in vain? 
No! no! no! I feel even here where we are assembled, that the 
flag which at this moment streams from the National Palace of the 
city of Mexico, has left an impress of its principles which can never 
be effaced. Aaron's rod swallowed up the rods of the sorcerers. 
The serpents of the former races of Mexico, which knotted and gen- 
dered under the Sacrificial Stone, are swallowed up ; the rods of the 
military despots of the National Palace, which have so long scourged 
that country, are broken — soon, we trust, to be destroyed. When 
peace shall be re-established, then, indeed, the star-spangled banner 
shall be lowered from that proud flag-staff"; but its influences will 
remain forever. I felicitate the soldier whose hands first run up that 
flag in the city of Mexico ; I could not felicitate him who should be 
ordered to lower it for the last time, although such act be the symbol 
of peace restored between the nations. 

I turn again to the battle-field. Marathon — Thermopylae — ye 
were battle-fields of Freedom against Despotism : two thousand 
years have not dimmed the bright glory with which you were then 
invested. Bunker's Hill, Yorktown, New Orleans, San Jacinto, 
Buena Vista, City of Mexico ! never shall fade the halo of undying 
renown which surrounds you. 

I have regarded the battles of former wars in which our country was 
engaged, in connection with those of the present war, as being only suc- 
cessive steps of the same great work, the progress of Republican princi- 
ples, the extension of the area of freedom. The actors in the different 
scenes of this great drama consisting of several acts are also associated. 
The hero of '76 the coadjutors of Washington, have worthy successors in 
the wars of 1812, 1836 and 1846. Warren, Hamilton, Greene, Knox, 



17 

Marioiij Jackson, Milam, your bodies rest in the bosom of the earth which 
you defended while hving ; but if it be permitted to the spirits of the 
dead to know the things of this world, you must recognize worthy and 
kindred souls in Scott, Houston, Taylor, Butler, Quittman, Twiggs, 
Worth, Shields, Wool and a host of others, to carry on the great work in 
which you bore so distinguished a part. 

I do not name Washington in the same breath with the other great 
patriots whose names I have recited. Before the pure fame of Wash- 
ington all other names pale, of whatever age or clime. He stands pre- 
eminent above all heroes and sages ; he so towers over the great and 
good of all time, that his virtues shine with unmingled lustre, a pattern 
and exemplar for the friends of the human race every where, so long as 
the great principles for which he fought and labored, shall find a place on 
this earth. We are his successors ; may we be the inheritors of his 
principles and his virtues. 

Fellow Citizens, This review of some matters connected with the 
Mexican war, suggested by the occasion on which we are assembled, 
is satisfactory, as well as profitable. Other appropriate topics I have 
passed by without mention. I might have contemplated with just 
pride the magnanimity of our government towards Mexico, the clemency 
of our armies towards the conquered enemy, and their forbearance towards 
the inhabitants of the conquered districts ; the soldierly qualities, too, of 
the rank and file, composed mostly of citizens drawn from the pursuits 
of peaceful life, showing that large standing armies are not necessary for 
the defence of our country, is a matter of the highest felicitation. But I 
fear I have already wearied your patience. As well as the limits of a 
short speech and my slender ability would enable me, I have endeavored 
to place the cause of the old Republic of Texas, in reference to the great 
matter of our incorporation into the American Union, on high and the 
true ground ; I have endeavored to vindicate the cause of our country, 
by showing where the responsibility of the present war justly rests ; the 
ultimate benefits of the war, the martial virtues of our soldiers have not 
been overrrated. While the councils of our government continue to be 
dictated by justice, while our armies continue to display the valor they 
have done in Mexico, we may, while praying for a return of peace, 
invoke with humble confidence the blessing of God upon our armies in 
the field, and on our people in their homes. 



W46 



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